Slowly making my way back to normalcy this third day of 2011 with a still down Internet and the entire lot of us home on vacation. (Archer goes back to school next week. Hal's home for another three.) Meanwhile, we're quickly realizing that a down Internet, though lovely for the first week has become a giant pain in our household's asshole. The simple life, seemingly romantic at first, all too quickly becomes debilitating, and although I often (and eagerly) enjoy fantasizing about off-the-grid life, there's no fucking way I could pull it off. The once-simple things like paying bills have turned into hour-long errands and trying to compose epic emails on touch screen cell phones has been the end of me. And my eyeballs. And yes, I'm currently majoring in creative whining with a minor in (invisible) violin performance.

I digress... every year I dream of starting the New Year with a bang! Wide awake! Go go, gadget refresh! Bright-eyed and bushy tailed! Ready to rock! Etc! .... and yet these last couple of days I've felt completely the opposite - sleepy and draggy and barely coherent, pajamas for days with little contact to the outside world, matriarch of our foursome of big and little Edies, all of us housebound and pajama-clad, complete with ill-fitted headscarves and floor-sweeping bathrobes. And while last week it felt amazing to unplug and detach, today it feels .... unsettling.

Two weeks of vacation is my maximum capacity apparently. I'm a fantastic hermit for limited time and then I become a discombobulated mess of neurosis and anxiety.

Too much sleep leads to exhaustion and too much vacation leads to an unsightly amount of body hair. (Apologies to Hal and anyone else who caught a glimpse of last week's shaggy Brad pits.)

So, here we go! Back in the saddle! Back to reality! (Cue Soul II Soul) Super glad to be back even though my expired blog header (whoops!) may suggest otherwise!

How about you? Excited for an amazing 2011? How were your holidays? French anyone special on NYE? Uplifting moments to share? Happy days? Would love to hear from you.

y'all are cute. end of story. i started a longer comment about new year's eve, but want to write a belated post now. mwah!

jessica
| 4:35 PM

first: still laughing at your family photos (literally chuckling out loud)second: i always dream about being a SAHM and all of the things i would do and clean and places i'd go and activities i'd do with the kids. and then i get a week off and do NOTHING. i stay up until 3 a.m., wake at noon (maybe 2) and then do more nothing until 3 a.m.! i guess i need to stop using my job as my excuse for my piles of unfolded laundry because guess what- they ain't gettin' done anyway!

This Christmas was the best ever! We found out two days before that I'm pregnant with our first baby. I'm bursting to share the news, but a little nervous to do it yet, so I'm telling you and a bunch of other internet strangers!

Glad to see that you all had a great holiday as well and that you're getting back in the saddle again. Happy 2011!!

I hope you're able to connect with the outside world soon. :) Your family is amazing. Looks like you guys have had a great holiday break. I loved all the pics especially the one of Archer and Hal's shoes! :)

Tomorrow I go back to work after 4 glorious months of maternity leave. I am so sad, but now that the end is here, I'm anxious to get on with this next chapter in motherhood and get into the groove of a new routine. A new routine which will involve lots of QT with the pump-in-style and hopefully not too much guilt.

I concur. On all of it. I'm thinking of just buying Pajama Jeans and your family photos made me LOL, for reals. Still have your bowl and that's code for...nothing. x

Glenda
| 4:24 PM

Love your pictures! I can't imagine what you're going through with no internet. I'd be going nuts. Thanks for sharing the pictures! love love them! Hope the New Year is filled with much love, lots of health and happiness!

Love this post. I'm a first time visitor ro your blog and will definitely be adding you to my follow list! We were in Mexico for the winter break and while is was great to all be together and totally off the radar (our phones didn't even work)- it was a lot of togetherness and so great to come home and back to the reality of our crazy lives.